Senate Headed Towards Final Vote This Afternoon
As expected, the Senate voted 60-38 this morning to invoke cloture on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173) conference report, setting up a final vote that is slated to occur around 2 p.m.
Republican Senators Scott Brown (MA), Olympia Snowe (ME) and Susan Collins (ME) joined all but one Senate Democrat – Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold – in voting to invoke cloture. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the only other Republican to support H.R. 4173 in May, switched his vote to “no” due to concerns over the derivatives language, along with the spending offsets that were included during the later stages of negotiations.
Following the expected final passage of H.R. 4173 this afternoon, the bill will then be sent to President Obama, who will likely sign it into law sometime next week.
Well, one thing seems certain. The Dodd-Frank Act won't bring prosperity.
Unfortunately, instead of a ‘game-changing’ confidence-inspiring reform, the Obama administration presented the United States with the Dodd-Frank Act — a legislative miscarriage that has the potential to hold back recovery and impair the position of New York as a world financial center.
Unlike the financial reforms of the Great Depression that were based on extensive bi-partisan hearings of the Pecora Commission, the Dodd-Frank Act was shaped by the very politicians that inspired sub-prime mortgage lending working together with Wall Street lobbyists who, above all, were set on maintaining the status quo.